Shabqadar blast: Four police officials suspended over negligence

SHO Shabqadar Police Station says homemade IED was thrown at court’s premises, which destroyed court’s veranda.

SHABQADAR: Four police officials were suspended as a result of an early morning explosion that took place at the civil court in Shabqadar on Monday and injured a private clerk while partially destroying the court’s veranda and two nearby shops.

Station House Officer (SHO) Shabqadar Police Station, Ijaz Khan, told The Express Tribune that an unidentified person threw a homemade Improvised Explosive Devise (IED) at the court’s premises around 4:35am, which destroyed the court’s veranda. At the time of the explosion, the clerk was sitting at the veranda.

Khan said that two on-duty police officials, Dawar Khan and Khairullah Shah and two absent officials, Rehman and Kamran Khan were suspended over their negligence.

A passerby, by the name of Jan Muhammad, was also injured in the blast. Two shops – Sultan Electric Store and Zarawar Bags – located at the Political Agent market were also damaged.

The court’s watchman, Hayat Khan, told The Express Tribune that when the staffers came back to the court after offering Fajar prayers, they saw smoke coming out from the court.

The police came to the blast site after the explosion and cordoned off the area. The Bomb Disposal Squad detected that 1kg of explosives were used in the IED.

Shabqadar Bar Association President Sher Qadar Khan and senior lawyer Muhammad Jan Gigyani demanded a judicial inquiry of the incident and called it a security lapse. They added that the building dates back to the British era which is now being used as a court and is a life threat to lawyers.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 14^th, 2012.